1975 Panjshir Valley uprising

1975 Panjshir Valley uprising
Date21 June 1975[1]
Location
Panjshir, Republic of Afghanistan
Result

Afghan government victory

  • Uprising suppressed
  • Jamiat-e Islami commanders flee to Pakistan[2]
  • End of the 1975 uprisings in Afghanistan[3]
  • Daoud agrees to end support and expel anti-Pakistan militants in Afghanistan[4]
Belligerents
 Afghanistan
Jamiat-e Islami

Supported by:

Commanders and leaders
Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Mohammad Daoud Khan
Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Abdul Karim Mustaghni
Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Faiz Mohammed
Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Ghulam Haidar Rasuli
Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Mohammad Aslam Watanjar
Supported by:
Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Pakistan Ghulam Jilani Khan
Pakistan Naseerullah Khan Babar
Units involved

Afghan guerrilla troops

Supported by:
Strength
Unknown 5,000+
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The 1975 Panjshir Valley uprising was an Islamist uprising led by Jamiat-e Islami against the government of Daoud Khan, and was the first ever ISI operation that took place in Afghanistan.[9][6] It was in "retaliation to Republic of Afghanistan’s proxy war and support to the militants against Pakistan".[7][10]

The Republic of Afghanistan support to anti-Pakistani militants had forced then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Naseerullah Khan Babar, then-Inspector General of the Frontier Corps in NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), to adopt a more aggressive approach towards Afghanistan. As a result, ISI, under the command of Major General Ghulam Jilani Khan set up a 5,000-strong Afghan guerrilla troop, which would include influential future leaders like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud,[11] to target the Afghan government, the first large operation, in 1975, being the sponsoring of an armed rebellion in the Panjshir valley.[12] The 1975 rebellion, though unsuccessful, shook Daoud Khan and made him realize that a friendly Pakistan was in his best interests.[12][3] He started improving relations with Pakistan and made state visits there in 1976 and 1978. During the 1978 visit, he agreed to stop supporting anti-Pakistan militants and to expel any remaining militants in Afghanistan to the dismay of the Khalqists who would overthrow Daoud that same year in the Saur Revolution.[4]

  1. ^ "Dossiers of rebel field commanders | Wilson Center Digital Archive". digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  2. ^ a b c Owen L. Sirrs, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert action and internal operations, Routledge (2016), pp. 112-113
  3. ^ a b H. Emadi. Dynamics of Political Development in Afghanistan: The British, Russian, and American Invasions. Springer. 18 October 2010. "These actions by Bhutto forced Daoud to soften his rhetoric and consider normalizing relations with Pakistan, as he came to realize that a friendly Pakistan was in his best interest...".
  4. ^ a b Shaista Wahab, Barry Youngerman. A Brief History of Afghanistan. 2007. Infobase Publishing, 2007. p. 133
  5. ^ "Afghan-Pakistani Trouble Brewing Again Near the Khyber Pass". The New York Times. 13 August 1975.
  6. ^ a b Kiessling, Hein (2016). Unity, Faith and Discipline: The Inter-Service Intelligence of Pakistan. Oxford University Press. The era of ISI action in Afghanistan now began. A first large scale operation in 1975 was encouragement of large scale rebellion in the Panjshir valley.
  7. ^ a b Houèrou, Fabienne La (2014). Humanitarian Crisis and International Relations 1959-2013. Bentham Science Publisher. p. 150. The president Khan revived adversarial stance not only toward Pakistan, but to the sponsor, USSR. First Daoud Khan set off proxy war in Pakistan, but in retaliation faced growing Islamic fundamentalists movement within Afghanistan
  8. ^ https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Chapter-1-3.pdf
  9. ^ "Afghan-Pakistani Trouble Brewing Again Near the Khyber Pass (Published 1975)". The New York Times. 1975-08-13. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  10. ^ Newton, Michael (2014). Famous Assassination in World History:An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 106. By 1976, while proxy guerilla war with Pakistan, Daoud faced rising Islamic fundamentalists movement led by exiled cleric aided openly by Pakistani prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
  11. ^ "Martyrs Week, Massoud's Death Anniversary Commemorated". TOLOnews. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  12. ^ a b Hein Kiessling, Faith, Unity, Discipline: The Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, Oxford University Press (2016), p. 34